Biography

Named Checkers’ Man of the Year in 2014-15 and in 2015-16, giving him the honor in each of his six full AHL seasons with five different teams … Won the Yanick Dupre Memorial Award win as the league’s overall Man of the Year with the Checkers in 2014-15 ... Finished the 2015-16 season ranked third on the Checkers’ all-time list for penalty minutes (318) … Signed an AHL contract with Charlotte on 6/30/16.

Personal

Co-founder of the Shnarped hockey app and the Hockey Players 4 Kids charity ... One brother, Jonny, is a pediatrician in residence at SickKids Hospital at the University of Toronto … Another brother, Marc, is a forward for the Iowa Wild and “will be receiving several slashes and cross checks to the legs, arms and back this year when the referees aren’t looking” … Growing up, was a fan of the St. Louis Blues and his favorite player was Brett Hull … Lists Arkells as his favorite band and rock as his favorite type of music … Favorite movie is Good Will Hunting and favorite TV show is True Detective … Favorite food is salmon … Favorite place to visit is Vancouver Island … Lists lacrosse as his biggest talent outside of hockey … Away from the rink, enjoys yoga, playing guitar, playing cribbage and using Shnarped, the hockey app he co-founded … Favorite teams outside of hockey are the Toronto Blue Jays and Hamilton Tiger-Cats … Spent his summer in Vancouver, where he enjoyed the outdoors (hiking, etc.) and “put in lots of hours at Shnarped Hockey HQ” … Is involved with Hockey Players for Kids (HP4K.org) and Boys and Girls Clubs charities.

2015-16

Completed his eighth professional season and second as an alternate captain with the Checkers … Tied his career high with five goals, while his 10 points were his most since scoring 13 with Rockford in 2010-11 … Led the team in penalty minutes for the second consecutive season with 164, tying for the second-highest single-season total in franchise history … Topped the 150-minute mark in penalties for the fourth consecutive season … Ranked second in the AHL with 18 major penalties … Tied for first on the Checkers with 75 games played … Instigated a fight with Oleg Yevenko at LE (10/31), resulting in 17 penalty minutes … Dropped the gloves with Paul Bissonnette for his sixth fight of the season vs. ONT (12/6) … Assisted on Michal Jordan’s goal for his first point of the season vs. IA (12/17) … Set up Jake Chelios’ goal vs. LE (12/20), giving him two assists in his last three games … Scored his first goal of the season vs. GR (1/12) … Set up Ryan Murphy’s goal and had seven penalty minutes at IA (1/29) … Scored his third goal of the season, which held up as the first game winner of his career, and had a fight vs. CHI (3/10) … Assisted on David Wohlberg’s opener, giving him points in consecutive games, and was plus-2 vs. RFD (3/12) … Set up Patrick Brown’s goal to extend his point streak to a career-best three games (1g, 2a) and was again plus-2 vs. RFD (3/13) … Took a season-high 19 penalty minutes, the most by a Checkers skater all season, most of which were as the result of instigating a fight with Michael Liambas at RFD (3/20) … Scored his fourth goal of the season and was plus-2 at CHI (3/23) … Marked the first goal streak of his career (two games) with an empty-net tally at MB (3/26).

2014-15

Completed his seventh professional season and first with the Checkers … Led the team with 154 penalty minutes, which tied the third-highest single-season total in team history and was the lowest total of his five full AHL seasons … Ranked 22nd in the AHL in penalty minutes and was fourth with 22 major penalties, all of which resulted from fights … Called for only eight penalties, all minors, that resulted in a shorthanded situation all season … Tied for second on the team with 73 games played … Picked up a season-high 19 penalty minutes (hooking minor, fighting major, minor and 10-minute misconduct for instigating) in the first game of the season at MIL (10/10) … Fought Brett Sopel at CHI (10/12) … Fought for the second consecutive game, this time against Joel Rechlicz, at IA (10/24) … Earned fighting majors in five of his first seven games as a Checker from 10/10-10/31 … Dropped the gloves with Michael Liambas vs. MIL (11/29) … Earned his first point of the season with an assist on Brendan Woods’ game-winning goal and posted a season-high, plus-2 rating vs. IA (12/6) … Picked up an assist for the second consecutive game and earned a fighting major vs. IA (12/8) … Dropped the gloves with Connor Brickley vs. SA (12/19) … Scored his first goal since 4/12/13 on his 30th birthday at NOR (1/21) … Picked up 17 penalty minutes (fighting major, minor and 10-minute misconduct for instigating) at SA (1/30) … Had a season-high four shots on goal at LE (2/12) … Fought in each of two games the Checkers played in his hometown of Hamilton on 2/27 and 2/28 … Dropped the gloves with former Checker Matt Corrente at SA (3/17) … Scored the Checkers’ only goal, his second of the season, in the 2-1 loss at GR (4/17).

2013-14

Finished his sixth professional season and first with the Portland Pirates … Ranked second on the team with 162 penalty minutes in 38 games … Started the season by dropping the gloves with Derek Forbort vs. MCH (10/9) … Tallied his first point of the season with an assist on Gilbert Brule’s goal vs. HFD (10/19) … Had the lone assist on Brett Hextall’s first goal of the season and fought against Cam Janssen at ALB (10/26) … Assisted on Randy Jones’ first goal of the season vs. MCH (11/15) … Recorded 19 penalty minutes (2 minor, 1 major, 1 misconduct) at HFD (11/27) … Dropped the gloves with Jimmy Bonneau vs. WOR (11/29), making that 66 penalty minutes in just 15 games … Went the whole month of December with no penalties (six games) … Recorded a season-high five shots on goal at PRO (12/8) … Dropped the gloves twice vs. BRI (1/24) … Recorded a season-high 24 penalty minutes, including a match penalty, vs. ADK (2/16) … Was suspended for two games following match penalty vs. ADK (2/16) … Recorded his fifth assist of the season on Hextall’s goal vs. SPR (3/9).

2012-13

Appeared in 67 games for the Hamilton Bulldogs, tallying 172 penalty minutes and six total points (2g, 4a) … Ranked second on the team in penalty minutes behind Zack Stortini … Ended the season with 66 shots on goal.

2011-12

Skated in seven games for the Peoria Rivermen, tallying one assist and 15 penalty minutes … Underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in November.

2010-11

Notched five goals and eight assists In his second season for the Rockford IceHogs … Ranked fifth in the AHL and first on the team with a career-high 245 penalty minutes and tied for the AHL lead with 33 major penalties … Also set career highs in games played (77), goals (5), assists (8) and points (13).

2009-10

Split the season between the AHL, skating in nine games with the Rockford IceHogs, and the ECHL, skating in 42 games with the Las Vegas Wranglers … Set ECHL career highs in games played, goals (7), assists (8) and points (15).

2008-09

Spent the majority of his rookie season in the ECHL while also appearing at the AHL level for the first time… Recorded eight points (5g, 3a) and 97 penalty minutes with Fresno until the team ceased operations … Signed with ECHL Reading on 12/30 and went on to tally five points (2g, 3a) in 15 games with the Royals … Signed a professional tryout contract with the Rochester Americans on 2/8 and made his AHL debut in the 4-1 win at IA (2/10).

College

Had 24 points (12g, 12a) and 80 penalty minutes in 117 career collegiate games over four years at Princeton University … Won 2007-08 ECAC Championship.